In the Chick-Fil-A thread Bakadan said it best. We need to write our deans, the office of the president, the office of student affairs, and make a fit at the SGA.

This is Bakadan's letter. Post yours.

I wrote the following to Aoun and the director of diversity and equity. I hope that we as a student body will not let this stand.

I read in The Huntington News this afternoon that Northeastern University will be renovating the Curry Student Center, adding more dining options, including Chick-Fil-A. While I support the drive to add more dining options, I am saddened to hear that Northeastern will be supporting Chick-Fil-A, a company that has spent millions of dollars on anti-gay causes. One of the reasons I chose to attend Northeastern for my graduate career was its diverse environment. Northeastern's own Office of Institutional Diversity and Equity's vision statement says that it "aspires to distinguish itself as a model of excellence and innovation by developing the fluency necessary for our comm unity to reject discrimination, learn and grow in a diverse, global society." Inviting Chick-Fil-A into Northeastern is a rejection of that vision, and would be an implicit endorsement for the kind of discrimination and prejudice that has no place in a university boasting a student population from 130 countries. As a gay student myself, I would feel uncomfortable walking into Curry and seeing a bright neon sign reminding me that the university I attend supports businesses that support discrimination. I hope that this decision will be reconsidered, and that as Northeastern becomes a world-class leader in education, it acts like one, and refuses to do business with a restaurant that believes some people are second-class citizens.

"Q: What is the Corporate Purpose of Chick-fil-A, Inc.? A: To glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us. To have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A."

Chick-Fil-A is not "Just a chicken restaurant". They are actively trying to spread a message of hate and discrimination against the LGBT minority.

So I'm the bigot for liking chicken, but not you for assuming I'm fat because I like chicken? Somehow I'm lazy? Motherfucker I work a full time job overnights and weekends. Just because I'm buying their chicken doesn't mean I fucking support their cause. Maybe I support the fact that they donate a large sum of money to scholarship programs. Own an apple product? I guess you support horrible working conditions. Just fuck everything about that attitude. It's just fucking chicken, and the money Chick Fil A spends on shit that doesn't work only makes civil liberties movements stronger. I'm not a member of the Klan just because I like chicken. Seriously get off me kids.

Does it bother you that a multi-billion dollar corporation may push a local Northeastern vendor out of business? If you don't care about Chick-fil-a's stance on LGBT issues, then consider its impact for Chicken Lou's.

Just to provide some perspective, one of the groups receiving a Chick-Fil-A donation was the Family Research Council. That organization has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Other groups receiving the same designation include the Ku Klux Klan and the Aryan Nation.

I'm all for great food on campus. There has to be a better choice than Chick-Fil-A.

They can donate to whomever they wish. It is their right.

And I can do whatever I can to stop them from being a presence on campus, no matter how ineffectual.

So I will try to raise awareness. And I will write to the administration, the school newspaper, and anyone else I think will listen. I will likely be ignored. But I will have attempted to uphold my values. I will not sit idly by while the University implicitly supports an organization that campaigns against equal rights. My conscious will not allow me to do so.

If you can sleep at night afterwards, go ahead and by Chick-Fil-A. But at least now you've thought about it.

What about Chicken Lou's? Isn't the TKO delicious enough as a chicken sandwich? Uburger and Sweet Tomatoes are both local businesses. I wish the university would find another place like them to keep it fresh.

I agree with everything you say but the "if they respect the student body..." portion. How can you use student body as an all encompassing term if portions of it obviously are against being against chick-fil-as presence. From that side, they're not respecting the student body if they don't allow Chick-fil-a.

It's not just about purchasing the FOOD. NU will put $ into building the facilities and then NU dining services will put $ into facilitating the purchase of their food from our community. Where will that $ come from? Students! So regardless if I don't actually buy their chicken, I contributed to them.

No. A small tiny portion might, but the entire fee is not going to go there. You could just as easily see that your fee goes into paying for upkeep of the center and cleaning services and that the restaurants are self-sufficient in cost. The reality isn't that they are, but the point is you can't say that the $70 fee is going to go into it when only a small portion would.

Edit: Also the sports teams and a majority of clubs are against things I support (the whole anti-abortion speaker that came last year? That was paid for by our student activity fee). Does this mean I'm going to demand that certain clubs on campus cease to exist? No. I'm just not going to go to them or purchase anything from their fundraiser.

Because I imagine there are plenty of students, myself included, who do not mind what goes on behind the scenes at Chik-Fil-A. We (I) just want what we (I) consider to be decent food at a decent price.

If you can find a way to do so, I'd say go for it. However, believing the university selected Chik-Fil-A over others without considering this among the other factors would be surprising. I imagine the school got a better deal with Chik-Fil-A than with any other company and that's why it's being announced as opening soon and not say, KFC.

I don't understand why so many people are so stubbornly apathetic about this. Every single one of us has GLBT friends and acquaintances, even if we don't realize it. I will always stand against an organization that puts its funds towards perpetuating the idea that there is something inherently wrong with GLBT people. To do anything else is shameful, and I expect better of my university and of my classmates.

I fancy myself an LGBT supporter, but I also fancy myself a man of the South. I ate Chick Fil A at home, and frankly, I cannot wait to eat it here. From what I've seen, homophobia is a plague spread across humanity. I also see, on the horizon, growing acceptance of LGBT people. More and more, people realize there is nothing wrong with who you are

It took you a whole lot of nice sounding words to say "I know gay rights are important but I just can't be bothered to do the simplest thing to help them along."

I am also a Southerner who grew up eating Chick-Fil-A, just so you know where I'm coming from. That growing acceptance isn't just magically happening, it's the result of generations of struggle and hard work. You can chose to pitch in, or not.

If I came into campus and saw a Chick-Fil-A in the student center, I would see it and for me it would stand partially as a symbol of homophobia. I would think "this university isn't well informed about LGBT issues." You wouldn't see this in Emerson and you wouldn't see it in Harvard, because those schools realize they cannot risk offending a portion of their students. Northeastern should realize that who they hire as vendors sends a message.

I have seen calls for protests against bringing Chick-fil-A to campus, and I wanted to voice my support FOR Chick-Fil-A. They had several locations in my hometown (and another location where I lived for several years), I have had several friends work for them and I know that they treat their employees right. They were a big community supporter for a lot of local youth programs and cultural events. I also think that their food is delicious. I respect the right of the other students to say that they do not want a Chick-Fil-A, but I also know that Chick-Fil-A has done a lot more good than bad for the two communities that I lived in. So I think Chick-Fil-A would be a wonderful addition on campus.

In addition to that, Dr. Wankel has a history of working against the GLBT community dating back to her time at Seton Hall. While the Seton Hall community may deem that to be appropriate, the Northeastern Community does not and will not. While I am not calling for her resignation by any means, it is not appropriate for her to push her agenda on the University as a whole.

Since I graduated from Northeastern 3 years ago I have been an advocate of Northeastern. I have touted the success of the co-op program. I have encouraged students to apply. If Northeastern continues in it's plan to build a Chick-Fil-A I'll do the opposite.

If Northeastern allows this to happen, I, and a significant portion of my peers, will no longer be willing to support the University.

I posted the link that was all the information I had in one of the other comments. I've contacted the original author of that piece to try and find more info. Once you read that you will know all I know.

So Ellen Degeneres can be the spokesperson for JC Penny but Chik-fil-A can't donate their profits to charities that are against gay marriage? Either a business is entitled to a sense of free speech or it isn't, not when it benefits your views and opinions.

This isn't a free speech issue; I don't know why people keep making it out to be. You don't have the right to say whatever you want with no consequences. You just have the right for the government not to arrest you for it (in most cases). If you call your boss an asshole, "free speech" doesn't keep you from getting fired.

Northeastern is currently choosing who is going to be in Curry. We are asking Northeastern to choose someone else, just like if a guy was being an asshole at a party, you'd tell him to leave. Free speech isn't an issue here.

Good evening. I'm an alumnus of the College of Computer and Information Science, writing to ask that Chick-Fil-A *not* be given commercial space on campus.

Chick-Fil-A has a public record of working against civil rights for non-heterosexuals. Accepting their business would taint NEU's reputation of having a diverse campus, one of the reasons I applied in the first place.

Furthermore, it would be a slap in the face to gay and bi students, another reminder that some in the world would have them be second-class citizens. Campus should be a safe space.

Laura Wankel (VP Student Affairs) said of this issue, "Organizations really do have the prerogative to support whoever they want" -- that goes both ways. Please do not help fund Chick-Fil-A's hateful activism.

What they really should do is get a Wings Over. Then I could still have waffle fries. KFC hasn't got waffle fries. I'm still (as an alumni) going to keep donating money... I'll just donate it specifically to parts of the university that are not involved with things like this, like Athletics.

What bothers me the most I think is this, from their FAQs:
"Q: What is the Corporate Purpose of Chick-fil-A, Inc.?
A: To glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us. To have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A."

I thought it was stupid when Tebow started bringing god into sports but I can tell myself that it's just that he thinks his choice to believe in God made him more confident or something, I don't know. But this.... this is a chicken fast food restaurant and is making me believe that God is real after all and he allows this nonsense to continue because he thinks it's hilarious.

Also apparently Chick fil a fired a guy who was Muslim because he wouldn't participate in an employee prayer but honestly I don't really have any sympathy for him, it's not like the company tries to hide its beliefs, he really should have known better than to accept a job there.

Has the NU GLBT community commented on this? I think there's a student group but I can't remember the name.

I've emailed them, but no reply yet. Well, I believe I emailed them. They changed their name from NUBILAGA to NUPRIDE. Their twitter is inactive and their email address is incorrect on the NU website. But I think it was only a typo? We'll see.

I'm the SGA rep from NUPride. Yesterday we organized a meeting about the situation with people from NUPride, students from Occupy Northeastern, and other interested people. We're planning to start a social media campaign, a very visible one targeted at incoming students, which we think will spook the administration. We've also got a series of meetings set up with people who made this decision in hopes we can get them to see our side of the story. There's also talk about us networking with the manager of Chicken Lou's, who I'm sure isn't very interested in having a cheaper chain restaurant steal his business, and if we can get him to publicly advocate for LGBT rights that would be excellent PR.

If you'd like to discuss this with us, there's always someone in our resource center on the third floor of Curry on weekdays.

It's so nice to know that I'm not the only one who cares about this. I had no idea that NU did so little for its LGBT students, and that Dr. Wankel has been less than an ally. I will still try to be in contact with her, and try not to let that color my interactions with her.

A cross-post from the original thread.

I emailed J. Murray Gibson, the Dean of the College of Sciences, since I"m in the physics department myself. He suggested I contact Margaret Keaveny, the president of the Graduate Student Government, since I'm in the graduate department. He also forwarded my letter to Laura Wankel and Patricia Mabrouk. I will be setting up a meeting with Naomi Thompson, and will be digging for some numbers for Margaret Keaveny. I'll update as I find out more information.

I contacted basically the entire college of engineering, a few of the minority organizations (Black/Latino), and a bunch of administrative offices. I'm gonna try and reach into the Parents Advisory Board... my mom used to be on it, hoping she still has a connection.

This includes campaigning against gay rights, discriminating against non-Christian employees, training camp counselors to tell children that homosexuality is wrong, lobbying against anti-discrimination laws, and supporting those programs that try to "cure" homosexuality.

Also, I disagree that the standard of causing harm should be limited to violence/fraud. Political campaigns against gay rights are harmful to GLBT people. Teaching children to think homosexuality is wrong is harmful. Attempting to force political views on someone under the false pretense of religious freedom is harmful. There is a reason why there are high rates of mental illness and suicide among GLBT youth, and a lot of it has to do with attitude and atmosphere.

Hello, I am a current student at the College of Computer and Information Science, and I'm writing to ask that the University consider it's decision to give Chick-Fil-A a commercial space on campus.

I have read in the Huntington News, as well as heard from my fellow classmates, that Dr. Wankel announced a new renovation of the Curry Student Center - not the least of which includes adding a Chick-fil-A location to our campus. This is a decision that I hope the university will reconsider.

Chick-fil-A has, between the years of 2003 and 2009, donated over three million dollars to organizations that have a history of and continue to attempt to restrict and reduce the human rights of certain types of people. Here is a link to a Huffington Post article that outlines the donations Chick-Fil-A made in 2009. At least One of the groups that Chick-Fil-A has donated to has been designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. This is the same designation that has been given to the Ku Klux Klan and the Aryan Nation.

It's upsetting to me and to a significant portion of my fellow students that Northeastern University is, by supporting a Chick-Fil-A location on campus, condoning the bigoted actions made by Chick-Fil-A.

Please, do not allow the university to give Chick-fil-A this commercial space. Doing so would be perpetuating the false and insulting message that homosexual members of our community should be treated as second-class citizens - a message I am sure the university does not wish to condone.

Please do not help fund Chick-Fil-A's hateful and bigoted social messages.